due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. msnbc takes you behind the walls of america's most notorious prisons, into a world of chaos and danger. now, the scenes you've never seen. "lockup: raw." gentlemen, how are you all doing? i hope you're enjoying this overcast cloudy day. >> catch that dove over there and eat that mother [ bleep ]. >> it prides itself as america's toughest jail. >> we don't issue them pillows. they use extra blankets or toilet paper rolled up in a sheet. >> we went behind the headlines

to find stories that ranged from the unexpected -- >> my ears are an inch. when i'm done i'll be at three or four. >> to horrifying. >> what did you do that you would consider torture? >> ripped his teeth out. that's my favorite. >> at the center of this most unusual jail is one of america's most controversial figures. >> they hate the place. that's music to my ears. when we decided to shoot "lockup: extended stay" at maricopa county jail in phoenix, arizona, we knew we were going to a place where most of america had heard about. it's a controversial jail with a controversial sheriff. our approach was to embed our crew for four months, i mean, really spend a lot of time and tell the true story of america's toughest jail.

>> on any given day, there are more than 9,000 male and female inmates incarcerated at maricopa. most have not been convicted of the crimes with which they've been charged, but are on or are awaiting trial. they're housed in six different facilities. >> i would describe maricopa county jail as, like, no other jail i've ever seen before. first of all, the sheer volume of it is staggering. so just walking in there and figuring out who's important, how the systems work, even how you get through the doors is a challenge. >> go to the west gates, see officer von reagan. >> the maricopa county jail has been the subject of more media attention than probably any other jail in america. in recent years it's been due to the county's policies toward illegal immigrants.

before that, much of the coverage centered on its practices. such as constructing an outdoor housing facility with tents. the striped uniforms and pink underwear inmates are required to wear. and the use of chain gangs to perform everything from maintenance work to burying the indigent. behind it all is the man who has run the jail since 1992. sheriff joe arpaio. >> one of my philosophies is you should never live better in jail than you do on the outside. >> you purposely want your jails to be tough, correct? >> well, i sure don't want it to be a hilton hotel like some other prisons around the nation. it's all this rehabilitation, education. we have all that in our jails, nobody talks about, but we punish our children, take away certain things from them, privileges. why can't we punish people who committed crimes and take away their privileges? >> there's probably not another

law enforcement figure in america as famous or as well covered as sheriff joe arpaio. so i had had some idea about who he was before i went in, but when you actually meet him, it's a really interesting experience. >> so what is this? a little introduction? >> 78 years old, he can sit down and talk with you for two hours straight and he could have done 20 hours straight. he is passionate about his position and about his beliefs, and he likes to talk about them. >> why does your message resonate? i mean, you win your elections pretty handily, right? >> yeah. in 1992 i made a promise to the people, i will be a very active sheriff. i don't play golf, i don't fish, i have no hobbies, i just work 14 hours a day. and then i'm not afraid to talk to the media. >> and people joke he never met a camera he didn't like, but he

explained pretty well to me how he didn't believe that was the case. in fact, he thought the opposite was true. >> i didn't call you guys. you guys called us. so i'm the publicity hound. you know why i'm talking to you? i'm getting my message across. i won't be a fluff story. it won't be a nice story, but that's okay. >> he really wants to talk about his policies and his beliefs. >> i took away their porno, took away their coffee, took away their salt, took away their cigarettes. i should be given the heart association award of the year. put them in pink underwear. they hate pink, at least around here. you never give them a color they like. why would you give them things they like? they hate the place. that's music to my ears. by the way, all my inmates on the chain gang, i don't put them on the desert chopping blocks. i put them on the streets and they clean trash, save

taxpayers' money. but the real reason, since i can't hire hollywood actors, i use my inmates as actors, as seconds. when the cars drive by, with the mother and father with the kid in the car, i hope they're saying, see, honey, you do something wrong, you're going to be on that chain gang wearing pink underwear and striped uniforms. maybe that kid will never forget that. i don't run a cia operation in the jails. you, anybody, can go in those jails, talk to any inmate you want. let them say they hate me. i don't care. i have nothing to hide. ♪ hey hey ♪ >> this place sucks, man. >> i'm walking through the famous tent city which in some

ways is what sheriff joe arpaio's jails are known for. inmates living outdoors in the heat, in these tents and i meet dustin crawford. >> need to catch that dove over there and eat that mother [ bleep ]. seriously, i'd rip out his breast, man and put that right on a [ bleep ] hoagie. i'm dead serious. >> one of the things that was interesting about dustin crawford is he had a unique take on one of sheriff joe's famous lines -- >> our men and women are fighting for our country, and they're living in tents and they never committed a crime. so i tell all these detractors to shut their mouth and don't keep criticizing our tent operation. >> dustin had just returned from iraq, and he provided an interesting counter-narrative. >> i was just in iraq about three weeks ago, and it's a lot easier than it is here. as far as, i mean, that sign right there ain't true.

soldiers do eat steak and lobster on fridays in iraq, you know? when you're in iraq, i mean, it sucks because you're in a combat zone and stuff, but when you're not, you're being treated like a [ bleep ] respectable soldier. you eat good, you get to sleep with the proper equipment you need. you know, i mean, you're taken care of as a humane person. even p.o.w.s get treated better than these guys are here. i mean, these guys don't get fed good at all. there's rats running around. they wake you up every 30 minutes and toss your [ bleep ]. there's no reason for it. >> my philosophy is to make it tough so that the people that serve time learn a lesson. with the theory of, maybe they will never come back. we don't have the electric fence on, do we? i go in the tents quite frequently. how you guys doing? >> so when we walked through the jail facilities with sheriff joe, one of the things that sticks out is his verbal jousting with the inmates is

nonstop. you know, they got something to say to him and he's always got a retort right back at them. >> it's hot here? you ought to come here in the summer. >> and it's pretty amusing to watch. >> want me to run for governor? >> actually it's not up to me, it would be up to the people and voters of this state. >> i'll put you in charge of our religious program. >> i don't think so. i'm sure i'll find a way to the other side. >> joe for governor. joe for governor. >> spread it around. >> run on a democratic ticket? >> democratic ticket? this guy's pretty sharp. you're sure you're who you are? you're not an imposter? huh? >> the inmates have this funny thing where they both despise him, but he has kind of this celebrity status among them and they all want him to sign postcards for them and it's kind of like an exciting moment in their day when sheriff joe comes down. >> you should try the slop. >> what's the slop?

>> the dinner we get. >> spaghetti and meatballs? >> probably not. >> i did have to give them television. the judge many years ago said you have to have tv and never said what to show. so i decided what to show. i'm sure not going to show this series to them. so i show them the weather channel, the food channel and c-span. really have to watch all these politicians. that's all they get. they're still getting television. >> and one of his latest innovations when we were there was this idea of this, what he called a chair, actually an exercise bike, that would power the televisions. >> a lot of you guys are kind of fat. you need to lose some weight. >> i know. put me on the chain gang. >> i gained 20 pounds since i've been here. >> gained 20 pounds. okay. a lot of you guys need some exercise. you ever been on an exercise bike? like that? >> yeah.

>> can you do an hour at a shot? okay. >> an hour at a shot? >> yeah. >> okay. >> he wanted the inmates to ride this bike in order to have the privilege of watching tv. >> we're going to hook the chair up to the television here and as you pump, you can watch television and we're going to let you watch anything you want. you're going to work hard for the television to lose weight and to protect your heart. i think it's only right for you to be able to watch nbc, msnbc, you know, all these. >> channel 12. >> when sheriff joe described this idea to us, it seemed frankly a little half baked. i wasn't sure he was actually going to get it off the ground, but lo and behold, we go back and sheriff joe's got his exercise bike up and running. ♪ >> you have to be innovative.

i didn't become sheriff just to do the same thing. you look at these prisons. they're all the same thing. the food is great, a few riot once in a while. i've been doing this almost 18 years. where's all my riots? they riot everywhere. the pizza's cold, they riot. the tv -- look at all the riots across the nation. how come i don't have a riot? i had one in tent city in 1996. so if you have a shortage of officers, all my tough programs, 50% hate the sheriff. where's my riots? are they too weak to riot? how come they're not rioting? coming up -- >> i mix it with the jelly. regular jelly package we get and kind of makes like a gel. >> maricopa inmates learn to make do. >> hairstyle complete, just have to wait for it to dry.

nothing at the maricopa county jail in phoenix, arizona, is designed to bring comfort to the 9,000 inmates housed there. >> we don't issue them pillows, so they either use extra blankets or toilet paper rolled up in a sheet. >> over the four months we shot "lockup: extended stay" we heard more complaints about the food than anything else. >> this [ bleep ] food. we need pizza, hot wings, greens, chitlins, we need all the good [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. this would make people go crazy because it get to hurting people. >> many of the inmates came up with their own culinary concoctions using snacks purchased from the commissary. micah butterfield serving six months for possession of methamphetamine showed us her recipe for corn nut minuto. >> corn nuts in water, let them

soak. then you add hot jalapeno cheese. i feel like i'm on a cooking show. then you take hot and spicy pork rinds and add it all together. once all of it's wet, you eat it. it's hot, spicy. see? that's minuto. it looks nasty, huh? >> while it was a noble effort, i don't think this won anybody on the crew over, but she was trying to do her best with the tools available at the time. >> the same was true when it came to female inmates and makeup. while a few items such as mascara can be purchased from the commissary, most inmates choose to save the money on eye makeup and create their own.

colored pencils were a popular alternative. but inmate susan huergo took things to a whole new level. >> all women have a morning ritual on how they put things together to work their best. i thought it was really, really interesting how susan would do her hair in the morning. she would mix a package of jelly with cocoa butter and put it in her hair as hair gel. >> i'm going to go ahead and take the lotion and mix it with the jelly. just regular jelly packets we get. 20 cents each. it's a lot cheaper than gel. and i just mix it with the lotion and put the jelly in with the lotion. and i rub my hands together. and it's really messy, but it's worth it. and just kind of makes like a gel out of it. >> i know women use avocado and things like that, but to actually take a packet of grape

jelly and put it in your hair was really, really surprising. >> just like any gel, you're going to go like that and just scrunch it to help it scrunch, but it's starting to get sticky so i know it's working already. >> who on earth would do something like this? she laughed and she's like, you know, we have nothing else to use and to be quite honest, my hair smells so good and i actually really enjoy it, this is something i'll do even after i get out of here. >> i take this to scrunch out the extra jelly and lotion and it helps it dry faster. >> her hair actually did smell really good. >> hair style complete. just got to wait for it to dry. >> there are so many things you take for granted when you're on the outside, and those things are such valued commodities within the jail. for joe watson, what meant more to him than anything else was lead for his pencils.

>> these are probably the most valuable things in here to me, pencils, because i spend most of my time writing, it's what i do more than anything else. >> when we met joe watson, he was acting as his own lawyer in an attempt to prevent a maximum sentence after he was convicted for a series of armed robberies. >> i have to write motions, i have to write letters. these are like gold to me. and unfortunately, we don't get them very often. we get them once a week or if i find a generous detention officer, he'll give one to me. they're very small. they're little golf pencils and they get dull very quickly, so we have to come up with ways to correct those problems. we can either, you know, maybe use a razor blade somebody has to sharpen it up or we can go under a seat like this and spend about 20 minutes scratching back and forth to make it sharp. >> the inmates are really ingenious about creating something out of very little. joe would essentially make these

home made mechanical pencils, really quite ingenious if you think about it. >> take a couple pencils and you stick them in a bottle of water and you let them sit there for a couple days and that softens up the wood so you can split it apart and take the lead out. after it's been sitting there for a couple days, you'll be able to split right down the middle. what you end up with is something like this, split it apart, and inside is your lead. so take a full thing of lead like this and you have your mechanical pencil all ready. i have one here. you can push it from the back out and there i have my pencil. and when i need more lead, just press it up like that and then we use emery boards to soften it up. this makes it nice and longer, a better grip. there's your pencil. >> you have to soak pencils in water in order to do your legal briefs and you're going up against a prosecutor who's got

probably six pcs in his office? >> yeah, and -- >> does seem like a slight disadvantage. >> it's a little bit of a disadvantage, but you know, when i win, i will have a hard-earned victory. i hope. >> watson's pencil defense did have some success. his prosecutor wanted 25 years. he was eventually sentenced to 12, but with good behavior and time served, he will be eligible for release in 7 1/2 years. coming up, one of the most colorful inmates at maricopa. >> this is one of my daughter. the reason why i'm in here. and later, one of the most feared. >> she is the one in this whole jail that creeps me out for a better word. >> rest assured, if somebody killed a [ bleep ], they had a reason to [ bleep ] do it. you need to be looking at the dead [ bleep ], not the mother [ bleep ] who killed her. yeah.

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the maricopa county jail in phoenix, arizona, houses inmates who have been charged or

convicted of crimes ranging from unpaid parking tickets to capital murder. with more than 9,000 inmates, there's an equal number of stories and personalities to be found here as well. >> my ears are an inch. when i'm done i'll be at three or four. >> we met robert nolan in tent city. >> most of my tats either have to deal with death or protection. one way, we're all going to die eventually. for example from gargoyles to dragons. this is one of my daughter. the reason why i'm in here. haven't paid none of my child support. this whole arm right here is all my brother's work. i would have to lose my pants to show you my other ones. >> we'll take your word for it. >> while nolan will serve his 90-day sentence in tent city along with hundreds of other inmates who have been convicted of nonviolent crimes, most other maricopa inmates live in one of five different indoor facilities.

and in one of those facilities we came upon a high security housing unit that was like nothing we had ever encountered before. >> when you enter the estrella jail facility which is where the women are housed within the maricopa county jail system, the vast majority are incarcerated in dorm-like facilities with the exception of a very small number of prisoners who are housed in a maximum security unit. and a unit within that unit is the atom 100 pod. >> although the atom 100 pod had space for 32 inmates, it held only four of maricopa's most infamous. >> i remember being briefed prior to going into the atom 100 pod by one of the officers about an evacuation plan if something went awry in there. >> there will be two officers present and myself also. i will be there with my taser drawn. >> in all the rest of maricopa

county, i had never been given a brief like that. this was the only time that we had had a contingency plan in case we were attacked by an inmate. >> basically we're going to keep the door to our back so if there's any problems the cameraman will have to fall back. the two contingent staff and myself will basically form an ark to protect the camera crew and we'll do a tactical retreat out of the pod and secure the door. >> and the inmate that was the greatest concern to detention officers was angela simpson. >> simpson i think is a very scary individual. coming up, behind the scenes of one of our most chilling interviews. >> and i just laughed it off thinking it was this big joke, and as she told her story i realized, well, maybe she wasn't joking. >> is it hard to chop up a human body? >> nah. not really.

you'd be amazed. it's quite simple, actually.

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due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. of all the inmates we interviewed at the maricopa county jail, one in particular made an equally striking impression on both our crew and detention staff. her name is angela simpson. >> simpson i think is a very scary individual. she's probably the only one in there that i take every precaution in the world to make sure my staff and myself are safe. she is the one in this whole jail that creeps me out, for a better word. >> i was the first person on the crew to get introduced to angela simpson, and upon meeting her, the first things that came out of her mouth when i approached her, she pretty much told me to go "f" myself.

for someone to say, go "f" yourself, it's like, all right, welcome to jail. >> simpson is a very scary person. she is just by the nature of her crimes and the way that she has been here and just her manners and that, she just doesn't seem to have a lot of those inhibition controls that most people would, and because of that she can be very much a threat to staff. so we have to keep her in a very controlled setting. >> simpson was accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering a man she believed to be a police informant. she has then said to have dismembered the corpse, set it on fire and throw the remains in a dumpster. in court she had proclaimed her innocence but spoke openly about the alleged crime to us. >> the media says you did some pretty heinous things. does that bug you? >> does it bug me? what people say? no. my give a [ bleep ] is broke.

i really don't, i have no concern for what people think. >> i have to say i have never met an inmate who made me so uncomfortable. >> what did you do that you would consider torture? >> ripped his teeth out. that's my favorite. >> how did you do that? >> with some needle nose pliers. >> the visceral descriptions that she gave of her crime of torturing an individual and dismembering her victim, i had never heard anybody describe anything like that, and i had certainly never heard anybody describe it with such glee. so it was your pleasure when you committed this murder? >> see, that's kind of [ bleep ] up. i'm thinking i don't know what they lawyer would say if i answered that straight-out. hold on. yes, yes, it was. but -- yeah. >> it was really extraordinarily disturbing. i still think about it. >> it's pretty rewarding work. it's great for the soul.

>> what were you trying to get out of him? >> he thought it was funny the people he snitched on would never get out of prison, so i wanted him to know how funny it was that they didn't need to. >> i guess the strange thing for me was during the whole interview i was two feet from her. i was holding a reflector to try to block some stray light, and as she's telling these stories -- >> can you describe to me the things you did? >> no. no. then i'll get all excited and he'll be in trouble. no, i don't think he should do that. yeah, yeah, he's too close for me to get all hot with the story. so leave that alone. >> and i just laughed it off thinking it was this big joke. and as she told her story, i realized, well, maybe she wasn't joking. >> is it hard to chop up a human body? >> nah. not really. you'd be amazed. it's quite simple, actually. you should try it. it's only a felony six, knock it down to a misdemeanor. dismemberment is a really low charge.

>> sometimes it seemed like she was playing a game. other times you could tell that it wasn't a game anymore, but she was reciting something that she actually, you know, something she likes to talk about. every now and then i would pop in and just go talk to angela, check in with her, and a lot of times she would just be sitting there drawing and she would always be in a zen-like state, just very calm while she was sitting here doing her drawings. she told me she had done drawings for christmas cards and i was expecting to see something happy or light for some reason. i don't know why. these drawings ended up being some of the most graphic things i'd ever seen. >> this was my first officer down picture. it's just in my officer down series. >> your officer down series. tell me about that. >> five or six officer downs -- >> what's happening in this picture? >> a cop has been captured and we're having fun with him. it's a christmas card. they get uncomfortable when these find these things.

>> when i saw angela's drawings, they were so disturbing and really got to this deep, deep, deep seeded hatred that she seems to have for police officers. >> they use their authority in any [ bleep ] way they want to because they [ bleep ] can and there's nothing anybody can [ bleep ] do about it. >> simpson went on to explain how she ranks those she considers to be the lowest of the lows. >> criminals are definitely, definitely beyond any doubt the worst and most vile creatures on the planet, yes. snitches then would come in second. and cops would be third. yeah. >> how about people who murder other people? >> what about them? >> where do they fall? >> in where? >> in your hierarchy. >> of badness? they don't. you want to throw murderers in with cops and cho-mos? are you serious?

you're kidding, right? you can't put murderers in a category with [ bleep ] up people. that doesn't make any sense. rest assured if somebody killed a [ bleep ], they had a reason to [ bleep ] do it. you need to be looking at the dead [ bleep ], not the mother [ bleep ] that killed it. >> have you had any guilt about any of that stuff? >> guilt, yes. i'm overrun with remorse. justice. justice is lovely. what are you thinking? when i said justice is lovely, what were you thinking? >> i was thinking how you'll feel about justice if they give you the death penalty. >> that's exactly what i knew you were thinking. i'll be thinking the same thing. >> that justice is beautiful? >> justice is lovely.

coming up -- >> this is my entourage. >> arguably, she's maricopa's most magnetic inmate. >> she runs schemes, runs games, comes to be controller of a pod, what we call pod boss. she's just a game player. >> you've never had a -- a lot of the girls in hollywood do.

during our shoot at the maricopa county jail in phoenix, we interviewed roughly 150 inmates, but few stood out as more of a force of nature than kelly mcnaughton. >> we have beer made, hidden somewhere, i have 30 cigarettes up the -- yeah, it's a party. it's a party.

spruce it up to the side. to the side. all right. okay. do you want to see us be a seal? okay. here's a seal. you did that on my nose. you did. >> you were like this. >> right on my -- >> one of the things that was so striking about kelly mcnaughton is she always seemed to have this entourage of the prettiest girls in the jail with her. >> this is my entourage. yeah. i have two blonds that when i get real stressed out, jackie and courtney, i just call them the blond [ bleep ]. i lay between them when i get real stressed out and hold their hands and tell them all about, like, my problems or whatever and they just sit there and be beautiful. >> these women would do all of these things for her. they would make her bed, they would give her honey buns. they were constantly doing her favors.

it was hard to ever ascertain why, what her magnetism, what her popularity was all about, but everyone knew her. >> mcnaughton had pled not guilty to charges of theft and trafficking in stolen property. it was her jail inside the jail that made an impression on staff. >> kelly mcnaughton is what i would like to call my own personal phrase a professional inmate at this point in her life. she runs schemes, runs games, tends to become a controller of a pod, what we call a pod boss. she's just a game player. >> she had given herself her own nickname. >> mcnaughty. >> mcnaughty? >> yeah. >> i think it stuck. not because she gave it to herself, but because it was totally appropriate. she was involved in every sort of drama. >> what do you guys want me to sugarcoat [ bleep ] -- >> no, we don't want you to. >> for us, we know if something's going on somewhere, mcnaughton's fingers are

probably in it. >> i make the best hooch. see it fizz now? i want more. tattoos is my best thing, though, because i give the best tattoos. out of everybody. stringing eyebrows. i wanted to go to esthetician school when i get out of here. i'm the best eyebrow stringer. if you noticed, my eyebrows are very nice. that's my work. >> there's no money within the jails. money is considered contraband. so inmates constantly use a barter system in order to get things they want. whether that be food or somebody to do a favor for them. they call these hustles. mcnaughton had one of the craziest hustles i've ever heard. >> i've given most of those girls in that dorm an enema. people in hollywood do it all the time. the models get colon cleanses all the time. you've never had a colon cleanse? wow. a lot of the girls in hollywood

do. >> how many have you given? >> the other day it was 54. today you walked in, i just got done doing one. it's 55. this is a hair conditioner bottle. we empty it and whatever. and then hot water and shampoo. first of all, you go to medical -- you have to pay $10 to get a suppository. you come to me, you only have to give a honey bun. you know what i mean? my original thing i tell them is that you'll lose three to five pounds and everybody, the food here, you gain weight. i've gained 50 pounds. i came in here 128, i'm like, 180 right now. >> nicole meacham had been asking for the special brand of help for several weeks. now she was in luck. >> i'll do it for free today. and it's on the house. what's your name? >> nicole. >> okay. i'm just -- it's not a hustle.

i care about people. i genuinely care about people. seems like a lot of shampoo, and it is, and i'm sure you know what you're doing. i accept tips. some girls have given me, like, oh, my god, thank you so much, have given me stuff because it really helped me out. ready? going in. let's go. did it help? >> yes, it did. >> so people should stop giving me a hard time? >> yes. >> yes, because i'm doing a service here. i'm here only to help. >> she sure does help. >> she loved it. coming up -- >> this is the wild, wild west. >> more of the unusual personalities we found in maricopa county. >> officer solomon, you have that voice and face for radio. get it, face for radio?

during our extended stay at the maricopa county jail, there was no end to the lineup of interesting people we met. >> yeah, you guys are cool, man. that's why i've been talking to you lately because you guys are pretty cool. i'd probably hang out with you guys, maybe. how much money do you guys have in your wallets? >> the long days of shooting can sometimes take a toll on our crew. >> one of the small pleasures that we have is break the crew for lunch and we'll go walk outside into the sunlight for an hour or so and grab a little lunch. >> how you doing today, sir? >> there was this one particular deli outside of the fourth avenue jail that we went to. one of the women who made our sandwiches actually did so carrying a pistol on her hip. >> thank you, sir. >> you're welcome. >> enjoy your lunch.

>> this isn't something you see very often when you're at subway or at some deli, sandwich artists with a glock, with a .15 round magazine in it. >> can i get a factory special, please? >> sure thing. you want lettuce, tomato and onion on it? >> yeah. everything. why to you corey when you make sandwiches? >> as long as you're not a convicted felon or domestic abuser of any sort, you have the right to carry on your hip at any and all times, including work. you have a nice day, too. >> there's a little bit of a cultural adjustment when you get to arizona that you realize, wow, this is a place where people carry guns. even the counter girl at the sandwich shop. >> you never know what creatures are lurking around the corner. this is the wild, wild west. >> first. second.

>> back inside the jail, another tradition from the old west was taking place. >> the dynamic between detention officers and the inmates is interesting. >> the magic houdini. >> one officer in particular, officer fulater, had an interesting way of staying engaged with the inmates. he played cards with them. >> shuffle the cards up, lay them out on the table, and i tell them which card to pick. they pick the card, they get whatever prize that i select for them. >> sometimes it's food, sometimes it's extra milk. >> if they don't want it, they have to be quiet and leave me alone for the day. >> he's lying. he's lying. we don't cut him no slack. >> you first? >> yeah. >> slicks? >> ain't nothing slick here, sir. >> six. >> ha, ha! thanks! >> you got it. >> the cameras are on now. >> it was perfectly within the rules. >> seven. pay the man. >> and it was his way of sort of understanding the pulse of the pod.

>> nine. >> nine? use the force. use the force. >> yes, sir. >> nine! >> any officer that comes in here and shows us respect we're going to give him respect back. we have officers in here that are for lack of a better word [ bleep ] heads. you know what i mean? but officers like fulater, the guy who does the card tricks, he's a fair officer. you know what i mean? any time we get an officer like that, we're going to give him respect back. he makes our day easier, so we make his day easier. you know what i mean? it's give and take. >> that [ bleep ] is fun. >> life at maricopa wasn't all fun and games as one resident of tent city so eloquently explained. >> you really need smell-o-vision. i think the smell is actually pumped and canned and released in a small area field downwind. it just kind of breezes over us.

>> i'm sitting in tent city interviewing this inmate named john harrington who's ranting and ranting about the deplorable conditions in the jail. at one point he wanted me to sample the water to see, i don't know, how alkaline it tasted or something. >> taste that and tell me what you think of that. >> tastes like water. >> tastes like water? really? what a guy. what a guy. >> they always want me to try the food, taste the water, you know, to share their pain. >> by the way, that water's tasting worse and worse. >> can somebody get him a fresh glass of water? he would love some more. >> gentlemen, how are you all doing? >> then over the public address system you hear this voice. >> it's officer solomon here with you. i hope you're enjoying this overcast, cloudy day. it's going to remain this way throughout the remainder of the day. high temperature is only going to be about 65 degrees. >> wait a minute. wait a minute.

please put this in. >> i'm now calling for the st. joseph the worker class. if you're interested in finding out about the st. joseph the worker or jobbing opportunities or housing opportunities that are available to you, meet me in the program's classroom right now for st. joseph, the worker. >> and instantly harrington's laughing. i'm wondering, who is this guy? >> i'm officer solomon. i'm the program coordinator here for tent city. okay. come on up, guys. >> officer solomon had this radio voice, so when we first met him and he started talking to us, we were all thinking, like, this guy must have done something in radio and he actually did. >> many people, of course, ask me, you know, when they hear my voice, you know, officer solomon, you have that voice and face for radio. get it, face for radio? anyway, and yes i was in radio for many years, and i did a little tv. did a little radio.

loved it. as i would sit in the studio, you know, and as i would be front selling and back selling songs, that was the latest by def leopard, coming up around the corner, we have more of your favorite rock music and more of your requests coming up with me the big-g. it was fun, it was the fun life. it was great. i love walking to the store and everybody was like, hey, big "g." it was a lot of fun, but i said, is this my life? you guys coming for the st. joseph the worker class? is this my life front and back selling rock 'n' roll songs and taking requests? all righty. come on in. come on in. i wanted something more. i want the something where i was helping people and you know, i wanted to go kind of where the action was to really help people. where else to do that than here in the jails? gentlemen, listen up here just really quick. i need to have you guys come up row by row.

it's very important that you put your name on both of these rosters. okay? we don't want anybody to be missing from head count, now, do we? i wear civilian clothes, i wear a shirt and a tie, but i am an officer. i'll have some inmates who knew who i was on the outside. i've had inmates say hey big "g." i have had that happen to me. that's always a lot of fun and it's real interesting when i make announcements. good afternoon, gentlemen, how are you all doing today? it's officer solomon here with you on a beautiful, bright and sun shiny wednesday afternoon. >> i used to do the weather. i was the weather man in radio and occasionally to spice things up a little bit, you know, i'll throw in a little weather report for the day. chance of some rainy skies tonight. tomorrow, on to the three-day forecast, we're going to be looking at mostly sunshiny skies. high temperatures are going to remain comfortably in the lower to mid 70s. it makes their day and my day more interesting, livens things up a little bit which they react well to. their life here in jail is so much about routines.

>> i think the inmates thought his announcements were kind of corny, but they all actually really respected him because he was such a nice guy. >> doing all right? when do you get out? >> 15th of april. >> oh, yeah? you're out of here. you're out of here quickly. >> there's no reason for them to ever talk bad about him at all. >> good afternoon, gentlemen, how are you doing today? >> they'd make jokes and make fun of him. but no one ever really did anything disrespectful to him. >> that's just sad. >> thanks, guys.